1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to farinaceous shelf-stable pan breads which, when reheated in a microwave oven, will retain their palatability and have extended table life. The products possess a crust and a crumb with a texture more closely equivalent to freshly baked pan bread products when reheated in a microwave oven.
2. Description of Related Art
Toughness in a bread product can be defined and assessed in sensory terms as a leathery or rubbery eating texture. For example, a bagel is tough while a croissant is tender. Firmness can be defined and assessed in sensory terms as the force required to bite through the sample without tearing or pulling. A "stale" dough-based product can be characterized as firm while fresh bread immediately after conventional cooking would be considered nonfirm.
Whether or not a product is tough or firm or, more accurately, is objectionably tough or firm, depends on the product type and the consumer. For example, the expectation for bread is that it should be soft and not tough. If bread had a bagel texture it would be objectionable because of the toughness. However, a bagel, even though it is tough, is not objectionable because the expectation is for a product that has a tough texture. Thus, the type of product and the consumer will set the standard for what level of toughness or firmness is objectionable or desirable.
The modern consumer of processed food is seeking a high quality food product with a minimum of preparation. This desire has led to the widespread utilization of microwave ovens in the average American household and the use of microwave ovens to heat machine vendable food products. While microwave energy will rapidly heat most food products, not all microwave heated products are able to deliver the same quality as is characteristic of the more traditional conduction oven heated counterpart. This lack of quality is quite prevalent in the area of microwave reheated baked goods.
Problems have arisen with the use of microwave energy for reheating traditional yeast-raised, wheat-based products such as bread and roll products. In particular, traditional bread products become less palatable after short exposures to microwave energy. The term palatable or palatability refers to the eating quality of food products. Palatable food products are agreeable to the taste and possess an appetizing appearance and texture.
For example, upon exposure to microwave energy, the crust of traditional bread and roll products becomes extremely tough and/or soggy as water present within the baked good migrates to the surface crust, but does not evaporate off. The crust of such microwave exposed bread products may become so tough that it is difficult to tear such products. The bread product itself may become soggy or develop hard lumpy portions, and the crumb of the bread product may become rubbery and gummy, and difficult to chew. Consequently, traditional bread and roll products, upon exposure to microwave energy, are not palatable.
To solve this problem, the food industry has pursued many varied avenues of research. Cochran et al. report in U.S. Pat. No. 4,885,180 that the toughness and firmness which occurs in baked goods due to exposure to microwave radiation can be reduced by the incorporation into the baked good of an effective amount of a chemically-modified starch. In another approach, it has been reported that Oscar Mayer & Co. has used a specific type of starch, and a precise ratio of starch to fat to flour in the dough to produce a microwaveable sandwich (Anonymous, 1987). Along the same lines, it has been reported that fat, in combination with other substances, allegedly reduced toughness in microwaveable dough-based items (Kimbrell, 1987). The tenderizing effect of fat has been attributed to the "shortening effect."
Anderson et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,842,876 (hereinafter referred to as Anderson), report that the toughness and firmness that results from reheating or cooking starch-based bread-like products in a microwave oven can be reduced by controlling the amount of moisture loss, the cooling rate and the cooling time of a microwave heated product.
While it has been reported that fat, in combination with other substances, allegedly reduces toughness in microwaveable dough-based items, this toughness cannot be solved merely by adding more fat to product formulas. Minor changes in the formula or process can change the product identity of a bread product from one product to another product. For example, further development of a biscuit dough will produce a baked product which is more of a bread, and frying of a yeast leavened product will produce a doughnut while baking of the same yeast leavened dough will produce a bread-like product.
Additional factors may affect product identity. Some of these factors include, for example: type of fat; type of leavener; dough formation method; method of fat inclusion; method of cooking the product e.g., steaming, frying, baking, etc.; method of assembling the dough product, for example, laminating versus nonlaminating, etc. These and other related factors and principles are discussed in Hoseney (1986). Further, the same cereal grain can provide major differences in the product. For example, changing from a soft wheat to a hard wheat can significantly change the product identity. Dough-based and batter-based products may be prepared from one cereal grain flour or mixtures of several cereal grain flours. For dough-based products, the cereal flour should be capable of forming a viscoelastic continuous protein matrix upon hydration. Thus, a careful balance must be made in the processing and the formula to solve product problems and not change the product identity.